Brooke Shields was elected president of Actors’ Equity Association in May 2024. Coming to union leadership with a long career that has ranged from acting and modeling to writing and entrepreneurship, she is committed to using her position to foster unity among Equity members and using her platform to elevate and amplify the needs of members. She believes that strengthening union contracts, expanding Equity’s organizing efforts and advocating for worker-friendly legislation like arts funding and tax relief are all key to improving the lives of actors, stage managers and all workers in the performing arts.
Shields’s career in the spotlight began early, modeling for print ads before her first birthday and on the runway by the time she was three years old. She attracted national attention as an actor at age 11 when she starred in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby, and she cemented her icon status with The Blue Lagoon when she was just 15 and Endless Love the following year. As a model, Brooke has graced the covers of hundreds of magazines, most notably Time Magazine as the "Face of the Eighties.”
She stepped away from the spotlight to attend Princeton University, where she was a member of the Triangle Club theatrical troupe before graduating cum laude with a degree in French Literature. She made her off-Broadway debut in The Eden Cinema while still an undergrad, and she appeared in Love Letters in both Hollywood, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico, later also performing the show Off-Broadway.
Her Broadway debut came in 1994, when she stepped into the role of Rizzo in a revival of Grease, for which she received a Theatre World Award for “Outstanding Debut on Broadway.” She has subsequently returned to the main stem in Chicago (also on the West End), Wonderful Town, Cabaret and The Addams Family. On the west coast, Shields appeared in the acclaimed ensemble play Girls Talk, written and directed by Roger Kumble, and she made her directorial debut with the Hollywood Bowl production of Chicago. She has appeared in numerous productions Off-Broadway, including The Vagina Monologues, The Exonerated, Love Loss and What I Wore and others. She has also performed two autobiographical one-woman shows: In My Life at Feinstein’s at the Regency and Previously Owned by Brooke Shields at Café Carlyle.
In addition to her theatre and film achievements, Shields has maintained a successful and critically acclaimed television career. Her two-part documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (which screened to critical acclaim at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and garnered recent Emmy nominations) premiered on Hulu in 2023. Her work on The NBC hit Suddenly Susan garnered her two Golden Globe nominations, and she received an American Comedy Award nod for her guest role on Friends. She is the recipient of five People's Choice Awards, and has previously starred in NBC's Lipstick Jungle, in addition to guest appearances on a wide range of hit shows. She also starred in and executive produced Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ mystery movie franchise, Flower Shop Mystery. She was seen in the recent hit Netflix films, Mother of the Bride and Castle for Christmas.
Brooke is also the author of a number of books, including the New York Times Best Sellers Down Came the Rain: My Journey through Postpartum Depression and There Was A Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me as well as the children’s books Welcome To Your World, Baby and It’s The Best Day Ever, Dad! She has also announced an upcoming book, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed To Get Old, coming out in January 2025, that promises to explore the humility and power of aging. Blending personal narrative and guidebook, Shields hopes to flip our popular beliefs about aging by lifting the voices of experts and everyday women who find this era of life a period for self-discovery, energy and opportunity.
Shields recently unveiled her latest entrepreneurial project Commence, a hair and scalp health brand that targets women 40+, formulated with innovative proprietary technologies that fortify hair health for all women, so they can “Commence” fearlessly. Shields has spent the last 5 years building a powerhouse executive team around her and fostering a community online of over 2 million women over the age of 40, who are all united by being on the precipice of “what’s next?”
In addition to her professional career and union service, Shields continues to be a strong advocate for women’s issues and keeping the arts alive in schools. She is a happily married mother of two strong and intelligent daughters.
Photo credit: Ellison Lutz. Download high-resolution headshot.
